Sankar Group

ABOUT THE FOUNDER

Omar Sankar was born in Damascus in 1930 to an agricultural business family well established in the food processing and wholesale industry around the Levant.^[1] Omar lived his first 16 years under the French mandate in Syria, during which he witnessed the massive challenges faced by his family’s business. Under the occupation government, Syrians faced land confiscation and redistribution, stringent regulations on the types of crops they were allowed to plant, and punitive taxation.^[2] To circumvent these strictures, the family would secretly harvest after midnight and hide crops in their basement.^[3]  Shortly after the country gained its independence in 1946,^[4] Omar married; he and his wife would ultimately have five children.^[5]

FOUNDING STORY

In 1947, Omar, alongside his father, founded Al Reef Food Processing Company.^[6] The relatively prosperous economy of post-independence Syria was predominantly based on agriculture and food processing activities.^[7] Anticipating the importance of officially registering his family-owned business in the food sector, in 1954, Omar obtained the official Syrian manufacturing license that bears “No.1,” marking Al Reef Food Processing Company as one of the oldest incorporated private businesses in the country.^[8]

Having grown up in a business family, Omar wanted to start his own separate business from a young age. Interested in transport, he branched out into the automotive industry and established a chain of workshops that stretched across several Syrian cities. The workshops specialized in the construction of trailer containers and tankers, as well as automobile repair services. ^[9] Omar’s workshops proved successful and attracted a growing clientele. By 1960, their operations had been merged into one large industrial enterprise under the name Omar Sankar Est,^[10] Popularly known as “The Factory,” the company established itself as a national industry leader in virtually every corner of the trucking manufacturing market.^[11]

GROWTH PHASE

In 1958 the United Arab Republic (UAR) was formed, a political union between Syria and Egypt rooted in a socialist economic model. The following years were difficult for privately-owned enterprises in Syria, which saw mass nationalization and a series of regime shifts, ending with the UAR’s collapse and Hafez Al Assad’s accession of the Syrian presidency in 1971. The Sankars positioned themselves as part of the “business elite” within the new state-business network, and enjoyed exceptional privileges under Hafez Al Assad’s rule for the next few decades.^[12]

In 1977, Omar Sankar established Omar Sankar’s Sons Co., granting the leadership to his sons, who had gained a wealth of experience as undeclared partners in their father’s business.^[13] His son Ihsan Sankar was appointed CEO.^[14] Four years later, Omar Sankar passed away at the age of 51, and all of the family’s business operations were officially integrated under Omar Sankar’s Sons Co.^[15]

The Sankar family had cultivated relationships with international automobile brands and in 1983, Omar Sankar’s Sons Co initiated a series of partnerships to import cars to Syria. Over the next two decades, they became exclusive agents for brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Daimler Chrysler, as well as Michelin and Continental tires among other automotive products.^[16]

The business was also diversifying into entirely new sectors. In 1998, the family established a construction company, Ebla Construction Co., whose projects include residential buildings and shopping malls in both Syria and Turkey.^[17] They also began to expand operations into Lebanon. By the turn of the millennium, their diverse initiatives were consolidated under Sankar Group, which has been called the “biggest privately owned group in Syria”^[18] and was considered one of a kind in the country as it was not reliant on government funding.^[19]

In 2000, following Hafez Al Assad’s death, the Sankars found themselves in competition with government-backed businesses that wanted to take over the Mercedes distribution license.^[20] Ihsan Sankar ultimately decided to quit Syria due to the increasingly arduous business environment and a long legal battle with the government followed. Mercedes-Benz Germany sided with the Sankar family and refused to grant the license to any other Syrian partner. Eventually, the Syrian government imposed multiple penalties on Mercedes,^[21] and passed a law banning any private firms from holding exclusive distribution licenses.

In 2005, the Sankar Group launched the first official expansion under the group name outside of the family’s homeland, setting up Al Bakkal Company, which distributes food and chemicals in the Iraqi, Lebanese, and Turkish, as well as Syrian markets.^[22] In 2013, the family established the Sankar Group Trade Company in Istanbul.^[23] Led by three of the founder’s sons, Mohammad, Ali, and Wassem,^[24] today the group operates in multiple industrial sectors across Turkey and the Levant.^[25]